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The global suicide rate dropped by a third between 1990 and 2016, a new analysis shows.

A study in the British Medical Journal has found that while the actual number of deaths from suicide increased by 6.7 per cent between 1990 and 2016, because of an increase in the global population, the actual rate of suicide dropped by 33 per cent.

The rate fell from 16.6 deaths per 100,000 people in 1990 to 11.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 2016.

While this is undoubtedly good news researchers point out that rates vary widely between regions as well as between income groups.

Also, because people are unwilling to report deaths by suicide in some lower and middle income countries the rate could be higher.

Suicide was the leading cause of death in high income countries in the Asia Pacific region and was also among the top 10 leading causes of death in eastern Europe, central Europe, Australasia and high-income parts of North America.

Globally, suicide rates were higher for men (15.6 deaths per 100,000) than for women (seven deaths per 100,000). However, in low income countries such as India the gap between the rates for men and women was much narrower.

The country with the highest suicide rate in the world was Lesotho, with a rate of 39 deaths per 100,000 people, followed by Lithuania (31 per 100,000) and Russia (30.6). The rates were lowest in Lebanon (2.4 deaths per 100,000 people), Syria (2.5) and Palestine (2.7).

Countries whose suicide rates declined the most were China - seeing a decline of 64 per cent over the study period - Denmark, which witnessed a 60 per cent fall and Philippines (58 per cent).

China and India, the two most populous countries in the world, accounted for nearly half - 44.2 per cent - of the deaths from suicide in 2016. And the big drop in the suicide rate in China contributed to the global reduction, said the authors of the paper.

In the UK the figures for 2017 show that there were 10.1 deaths by suicide per 100,000 people - the rate was 15.5 for men and 4.9 for women. The rate is the lowest since records began in 1981, said the Office for National Statistics.

Even in the UK the rate varies widely - men in Northern Ireland have the highest rate of suicide (27.3 per 100,000) while women in England have the lowest rate (4.6 per 100,000).

The authors said that while the drop in the rates of suicide should be welcomed the figures may not be accurate - particularly as there is stigma in low and middle income countries in admitting that a relative or loved one has died by suicide.

Much of the decline in the global suicide rate is down to the decreases in the rate in China and, to a lesser extent, India. The reasons for a drop in the suicide rate include economic growth, urbanisation, improved standards of living and better access to medical care in rural areas, say the authors.

In a linked editorial, Ellicott Matthay at the University of California, San Francisco, agrees that these results should be interpreted with some caution, particularly the very low and very high rates. But she added that they should spur further research into the reasons behind the figures.